IMAP is a function available to Outlook as a means of filing emails into the Xplan system to maintain an audit trail for compliance purposes. Filing your client email correspondence will ensure that your client records are complete. IMAP allows for the Outlook email accounts to be linked to Xplan, allowing users to copy emails from Outlook into the Xplan Document Library where they are saved as Client Notes. 

Recent Changes

For those familiar with IMAP, traditionally Microsoft Outlook provided Xplan users the ability to view client file Notes from within Outlook.  When Outlook is connected to Xplan over IMAP, the Xplan notes are retrieved and cached in Outlook as a background job, based on notes that the user has the visibility to access against Xplan clients. The volume of notes Outlook tries to retrieve creates slowness in Outlook and can consume large amounts of bandwidth for users. It also has an adverse impact on the performance of Xplan, and can on occasion, cause Xplan to crash.
 
Unfortunately, IRESS have no control over this download process as it is driven by Outlook’s IMAP function. As a result, they have now implemented a change so that the document note folders in Outlook are “write-only” over IMAP.  This means users of Xplan will be able to file emails as file notes from within Outlook, but will not be able to view all document notes from within Outlook.  These notes can be viewed in Xplan once filed.
 
Some common questions that IRESS have received from users surrounding this is 'how do you then use Outlook to respond to an email that has been IMAPed?' There are a number of Tips (outlined below) that you can employ to streamline this process.
 
IMAP Tips

1. Make a copy of the email before you file it into the IMAP folder. We recommend this as best practice; but it will ensure you still have a copy available in your Outlook that you can reply to.
2. You can file emails into Xplan only after the email conversation is closed. The idea of filing emails into Xplan is to provide a centralised storage system for record keeping purposes. If you are in the middle of an email conversation with a client, IRESS recommend keeping this email in Outlook.

Outlook Plugin
For those using Outlook, Xplan offers an Outlook Plug-In that allows you to select an email, activate the Plug-In and a pop-up displays where you set the details for the Note to be created in Xplan. When the Note is saved, a unique reference for the source email is stored. This allows Xplan to track subsequent correspondence in the email thread. If the Plug-In is run on a later email in the thread, such as a reply from a client, Xplan will add the content of this email to the existing Note. This allows a single Note to hold the entire contents of an email conversation between multiple parties.
 
Email to XPLAN
For those not using Outlook, Xplan also supports the automatic filing of inbound emails to a predefined Xplan email address. These emails are saved as Notes and linked to Xplan entities based on the email To and From addresses.

Hope this Tip has been of interest.
  
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Regards,

Julie Tasker
Specialist PMC
Specialist Practice Management Consultant
Xplan System Administrator
Xplan Customisation
1300 664 665